Md. Man Frees Hostage, Surrenders

Md. Man Frees Hostage, Surrenders

STEPHEN MANNING

Oct. 09, 2001

LUSBY, Md. (AP) _ A man suspected of fatally shooting two men at a construction site surrendered Tuesday after holding a woman hostage for 22 hours in a trailer.

Matthew T. Keyser, 32, surrendered at about 10 a.m., said Lt. John Horne, a St. Mary's County Sheriff's spokesman. The hostage, Elsie Reeves, 61, of Solomons, was unharmed, Horne said.

Keyser left the trailer voluntarily, said Maj. Greg Shipley, a state police spokesman.

Police had been negotiating with Keyser over the telephone since around noon Monday, after he allegedly fired at least four rounds at a state trooper who tried to stop his pickup truck following the construction-site shooting in California, Md.

The trooper, M.D. Lass, bailed out of his moving car to avoid being hit and returned fire before Keyser ran to the trailer and took the woman hostage, Shipley said. Lass was not injured.

A man and a woman also inside the trailer escaped, police said. Investigators do not believe Keyser had any connection with the hostage.

Keyser apparently believed one of his co-workers at the construction site was having an affair with his wife and went looking for the man, Horne said. When Keyser didn't find the co-worker, he allegedly shot two other co-workers to death. An off-duty firefighter and his brother were killed.

Anne Arundel County Fire Department spokesman John Scholz identified one of the victims as Louis A. Moreland, 39, a department veteran of 18 years who was working a second job at the site. His brother's name was not immediately available, Scholz said.